There are no Buddhist Cats

Some time ago Rebecca decided that we should have a cat. Ostensibly this was to reduce the rodent population of the house and protect the food supplies. I mentioned that I thought it was a good idea, but that I think cats have to be selected very carefully. Further I suggested that we not get attached to any cats, as the life of a cat here is likely to be short and end unfortunately.


Less than a week later, a lady we know arrived with a bucket. We have a great need for buckets and the shops sometimes sell them for $1 when they have sold all the contents in smaller retail amounts. These buckets are invariably originally contained either salted pig tails or lard. This lady had been buying them when available and bringing them to us and we gladly reimburse her. So I was not surprised to see her arrive with a bucket.

However this bucket was not empty, instead, nestled on a blanket inside, was a tiny kitten.



The kitten was apparently not yet weaned, but had two siblings who were not getting any of their mother's milk because this cat was taking it all. So the family that owned the mother decided that weaned or not, this kitten was available to be adopted out.

Rebecca was not surprised and had apparently known that this was going to be arranged. Of all of us Rebecca is most irritated by the behavior of cats, however secretly, she is also the one most fond of cats.



The kitten was able to eat solid foods, but she would attempt to nurse at our ear lobes. She would knead at our necks with her claws apparently attempting to increase the milk flow from our ear lobes, probably to no avail. I often remarked that she opens a small wound on the ear lobe and is sucking blood. No one took this seriously, but occasionally when the topic of the kitten came up I would very solemnly remark that "The cat is a vampire"



We named this cat Ferocious Grey, a name that was hoped to make her strong enough to survive the tribulations of this place, snakes and all. She soon lived up to her name, attacking rags, socks, toes, the dog Enki, moths and eventually mice. She also attacked a scorpion who stung her on the hind foot. Her leg swelled to about double but her behavior indicated that she thought little of the injury. Scorpions stings are reputed to be extremely painful.

Buddhism, both as a philosophy and a religion considers selflessness, empathy and loving compassion to be some of the highest and noblest attributes of consciousness. Among religions, it is not alone in holding such things to be important. We can see such things in people, and often we can see behavior that appears very much like selflessness or empathy in animals.

Dogs are well known to love their caretakers, and have often been known to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of their people. It is difficult to understand the motives or intentions of an animal. But often we have seen our dogs behave as if they are concerned about us, and sometimes apparently put themselves in danger to protect us.

Our dogs Enki and Enlil do not get along. Enlil who is about two or three will attack Enki who is about six or seven. However we have often seen Enki, an older and weaker dog, get between Enlil and the cat. The appearance is that Enki is willing to get attacked to protect the cat from Enlil. It is possible that he has saved her life in this manner.

There is what very much appears to be if not love then at least genuine affection in either dog's eyes when one of us pets them.

Cats, as far as my experience indicates, do not demonstrate any behavior that can be construed to be selflessness, compassion, or even kindness.

Dogs are considered predatory. While their ancestors may have been, and feral dogs may well be, for the most part dogs appear to have evolved into a symbiotic niche with us humans.

Cats, however are pure predators.



Ferocious is well fed, however the permanent mouse population of the house has dropped to zero. Instead of mice she now kills several small birds daily.



This is the function we desire of her, this is her job. But cats do not kill cleanly. Most predators kill prey fairly quickly, but cats don't. Instead she kills things in the most distressing manner possible. She brought a bird into the house and for many minutes tortured it.



Finally Enki, the dog showed me the way to handle this. He acted as if he would take the bird away, so Ferocious promptly ate it. In the future I will take her prey away from her and kill it myself unless she dispatches the creatures in a timely manner.



She likes to sit on our laps and cuddle close to us. It is easy to imagine that she loves us. But the truth is this only happens when the air temperature is a bit on the cool side. She is essentially using us as a heating pad.



She lets us pet her. However instead of the deep devotion apparent in a dog's eyes, there is only an impatient tolerance in our cat's eyes. She lets us pet her, as long as we are stroking her fur wherever she may happen to have an itch or a flea.



According to Internet Lore, Buddhist folklore claims that Cats are banned from Heaven. Apparently the Buddha declined to bless cats when he was around, so cats are unable to enter Nirvana.



Despite all of this, many people, including us, deeply care for our cats. I suspect that this is because in the early history of civilizations, populations were critically dependent on long term storage of food. Under these conditions, humanity evolved into a symbiotic niche with cats, the cruel, but efficient protectors of our food stores.



This only works because we are so much larger than cats. If Ferocious were much larger or we were much smaller, I strongly suspect that she would kill and eat us.



A minor note needs to be added here. Apparently determining the gender of small kittens is very difficult. Ferocious, perhaps in an attempt to live up to the name, has "grown a pair". That is to say all the above references to her and she, should be changed to him, and he. It turns out Ferocious is a male.